To all our managers, staff, colleagues, and tourism friends in Kenya Our thoughts are with you all in Kenya this week for a peaceful transition in government and on the streets. Despite CNN and BBC wanting to show footage of the old election unrest, their efforts have largely been thwarted so far and there is [...]

DON’T YOU WISH THIS WERE YOUR CLASSROOM…. In December 2012, Great Plains Conservation held a week long educational program for the local communities of Seronga and Gudikwa. In order to teach and share ideas, Selinda Explorers Camp’s main area was transformed into a make-shift classroom. Subjects covered were: Okavango Delta and all of Botswana’s ecosystems [...]

All too often in the world of conservation, we are peppered with tragic stories. De-horned rhino here, speared lion there, but today we bring to you a conservation story which might just give you great hope for 2013 and beyond. Sure, you might say, “but it’s just a set of games, who cares, what’s that [...]

First Maasai Olympics in Kenya creates new tradition: The track and field competition uses warriors’ lion hunting skills for athletics “The Maasai Olympics is not just a sporting activity and event. It is a once–in–a–lifetime opportunity given by the Maasai elders to save this ecosystem,” Dereck Joubert, CEO of Great Plains Conservation, said. In Kenya’s [...]

After 20 years of sole operation under Richard Bonham’s guidance, Maasailand Preservation Trust is proud to announce its merger with Big Life Foundation. Co-founded by conservationist Richard Bonham & photographer Nick Brandt in October 2010, Big Life’s conservation philosophy is so similar, and goals so identical, that it became obvious to both organizations that the [...]

Great Plains Conservation is not simply a tourism venture. As our name suggests, we are actually primarily focused on conservation and use tourism as a vector to achieve our conservation goals. Hence we we call ourselves a “Conservation Tourism” company. To this end, Dereck & Beverly Joubert founded Big Cats Initiative in partnership with National [...]

Recently our friends and colleagues at Ellerman House, based in Cape Town, hosted the annual ArtAngels charity art auction and party for the first time this year, following the success of the inaugural 2011 event at CIRCA on Jellicoe in Johannesburg where R1.6 million was then raised for charity This year, and going forward, ArtAngels [...]

As many of you know Dereck and Beverly recently made a new movie called The Unlikely Leopard Why not take 2 minutes and enjoy the short clip available here ? Easy Prey scene – The Unlikely Leopard

Great Plains Community Outreach has been very active in all spheres of our outreach over the last few months. Our conservation education program has continued with a follow-up holiday workshop with the Gudigwa Primary School Environmental Club and our craft groups have been working on new products. A workshop was held over 2 days during [...]

ABC television’s Nightline highlights the Big Cats Initiative, the new documentary by Dereck & Beverly Joubert called The Unlikely Leopard, and the work of Great Plains Conservation. This enlightening episode will open your eyes to the plight of the big cats and how to take action NOW. Regrettably only available to folks that are based [...]

“Big Cats Face Poachers, Safari Hunters, Coming Extinction” Bloomberg news article Bloomberg Business Week article

The Last Lions DVD is now available in South Africa at all leading retailers.

Selinda Camp is renowned for many things, Hippos being one of them. The last few days have seen the return of a local lone bull Hippo. Janet and Richard Hickons stayed with us for 3 nights and during their stay dubbed this fellow “Winston” as they thought he looked like Winston Churchill. We’ve decided to just [...]

Behind the scenes one of the more important activities that the Great Plains Conservation Botswana’s staff do is work closely with our local communities that border the reserves in which our camps are located Enjoy this quarterly newsletter from the folks that head up this important facet of our business. Click here (Selinda Community Outreach_March [...]

Have a look at this interactive MAP of Africa from the #CauseAnUproar section of National Geographic’s website, which shows you the very rapid decline of Lion and other species of Africa’s Big Cats over the last. In the last 10 year’s humanity lost 30 000 lions! That is 8 a day on average over 10 years!! [...]

Nominations for The 2012 Safari Awards, sponsored by The Good Safari Guide for the fifth year, are open. The nominations process runs through the month of March with the announcement of the Judge’s Shortlist on the 12th April with the award winners to be announced in London on Monday the 5th November. Great Plains Conservation [...]

The iBrochure of Ride Kenya Horse Safaris in Kenya is now available to download for you to look at. Let us know what you think! Ride Kenya Horse Safaris, Kenya iBrochure

The iBrochure of Mara Plains Camp in Kenya is now available to download for you to look at. Let us know what you think! Mara Plains Camp, Kenya iBrochure

The iBrochure of ol Donyo Lodge in Kenya is now available to download for you to look at. Let us know what you think! ol Donyo Lodge, Kenya iBrochure

The iBrochure of Duba Plains Camp in Botswana is now available to download for you to look at. Let us know what you think! Duba Plains Camp, Botswana iBrochure

The iBrochure of Selinda Camp in Botswana is now available to download for you to look at. Let us know what you think! Selinda Camp, Botswana iBrochure

The iBrochure of Zarafa Camp in Botswana is now available to download for you to look at. Let us know what you think! Zarafa Camp, Botswana iBrochure

In February 2012, Botswana’s Duba Plains, Zarafa and Selinda Camps, owned by Great Plains Conservation, hosted Lara Logan and a team from CBS 60 Minutes for a week. Logan was in Africa to record a profile of filmmakers Dereck and Beverly Joubert and shoot the Jouberts’ important conservation work with Big Cats in the Duba [...]

Great news for our friends based in Australia! Part of the Big Cat Week on National Geographic Channel, The Last Lions will be aired on Sunday 26 February 2012!! Follow this link to the National Geographic Australian website for the news (http://natgeotv.com.au/big-cats/)- Post your feedback, comments and thoughts here or on our Facebook fan  page [...]

Coupled with the launch of the Last lions in Paris recently, Dereck and Beverly also spent some time on the radio talking about the film and their work with the Big Cats Initiative Click on this link to access the interview    

‘The Last Lions’ is going to be aired on DSTV’s NatGeo Wild next Monday, 13 February, 19h00 SATime ! DSTV is a paid satellite channel which airs in most African and Indian Ocean countries Get the word out there and make sure to put the date and time in your diary. Keep an eye on [...]

Over the last few months Great Plains community outreach has had some amazing experiences: getting to know community members, teaching skills and continuously generating income for the Seronga and Gudigwa communities. We have relocated our Seronga base to a house with more work space and facilities. This provides our Tipatizane members with an area to [...]

The year 2011 has come to end and we wish all our stake holders a happy and fruit-full 2012. All our staff at Duba Plains wait for the year 2012 with full energy and hope it will be a good one for us all and wish our guests good luck and promise a warm and [...]

To all our readers, guests current, past and future… we hope you have had a very merry Christmas and we wish you the happiest of new years! This December has been one for beautiful crystal clear mornings, huge impressive afternoon and evening storms, mud (lots of it), fishtail driving (Masai Mara drift style), getting stuck [...]

As it turns out, this episode of ABC’s Nightline was among the production team’s favorite projects. Of course, how could it not be when you are among good company, lions, Botswana most pristine wilderness and talking conservation.  It’s a very entertaining segment – will make you grin, dream and contemplate all at the same time. [...]